ר׳ חיים אלעזר שפירא

ר׳ חיים אלעזר שפירא (1868–1937), known as the מנחת אלעזר, was the third Munkács Rebbe, chief rabbi of Munkács and a prolific halakhic authority. Born in Strzyżów into the Spira dynasty, he was educated principally by his father ר׳ צבי הירש שפירא, author of דרכי תשובה. The family settled in Munkács, where he became head of the rabbinical court in 1903 and succeeded his father as chief rabbi and rebbe in 1913. He developed Darchei Teshuva Yeshiva and a broad network of traditional schools, charities and communal services. His six-volume responsa מנחת אלעזר addressed ritual, communal and contemporary questions; his many other books treated prayer, custom, Kabbalah and Hasidic teaching. He fiercely opposed Zionism, religious Zionism, Agudath Israel and modernizing trends, positions central to his public leadership and controversies. In 1930 he travelled to Mandatory Palestine, especially Jerusalem and Safed, and met the aged kabbalist ר׳ שלמה אליעזר אלפנדרי; the journey was recorded in מסעות ירושלים. The 1933 wedding of his only daughter Chaya Fruma Rivka to ר׳ ברוך יהושע ירחמיאל רבינוביץ drew an enormous crowd and survives on film. He died in Munkács in 1937 and was succeeded by his son-in-law. His grave became a pilgrimage site after its restoration.